


A Shining Light

by donutsweeper



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-25
Updated: 2011-03-25
Packaged: 2017-10-17 06:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/174058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/pseuds/donutsweeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Words and colors guide John home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Shining Light

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: The title is borrowed from the Barnum song "The Colors Of My Life".

Consciousness ebbed and flowed for John. Bits and pieces of conversations swam overhead, and John tried to grab onto the words, but they slipped away, laughing haughtily at his feeble attempts to try to make sense of them. However, there was one sound that seemed to occur more than the others.

 _"Onnn?"_

Sometimes it echoed through empty corridors, staid and proper, but other times it danced through his brain, bouncing about madly and refusing to stay still. It meant something though, he was sure of it and when it sat there, sulking on the floor, a lump of midnight blue with a sepia shadow, it looked so sad he wished he could scoop it up and snuggle it close, the same way he'd cheer up Mr. Bear those nights after Harry had told ghost stories and Mr. Bear was too upset to sleep.

Mr. Bear wasn't with him, Mr. Bear hadn't been with him for years and years, but John wasn't alone now. He wasn't sure where he was, only knowing it was cold and white and still, but he did know he was never alone. The speaker of the sulking words was always there, teasing away at the foggy swarm of sounds and smells John found himself engulfed in.

But Mr. Bear never talked to him like the sad shadow did. Maroon, or perhaps mulberry, concern merged with gunmetal grey and burnt umber tinged hesitation. But behind it all was a pale peach and dark brown bubble of warmth that kept John struggling to make sense of it all, to find the meaning behind the swirling sounds of colour.

And then one day, as the yellow sun teased John through the window, _"Onnn"_ became _"John"_ and Sherlock was there, smiling so brightly it was almost painful as he brought John out of his confused and muddled mindset and into a world of words and love.


End file.
